Image credit: Scooby Doo: Jasin Boland

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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So now it's on to a big career as...Daphne in ''Scooby-Doo''?
[Laughs] I get a lot of '''Scooby-Doo'?! That's why you're leaving?'' ''Scooby-Doo'' was interesting. The reviews were scathing, and I took it really hard. [But] Freddie said to me, '''Scooby-Doo' isn't for reviewers. We're not making it for them.'' And when all these children came up to me to say, '''Scooby-Doo' is my favorite movie,'' that was great. But for a weird time in between, I took everything really personally.

Do you have a clear post-''Buffy'' plan for making it in the movies?
If I did, I'd write a book, cash in, and retire. My movie experience has shown me you can't plan.

''Simply Irresistible'' was a major flop. Do you have something to prove at the box office?
No. ''Simply Irresistible'' was [just] a bad choice -- and for that it was a great [learning] experience. I wasn't ready to make that movie. I was too young. The script was not ready. I knew in my heart before I left [to make it] that I should back out.

Have you ever had any fear that you would be trapped by your ''Buffy'' image?
Of course. You run that risk with anything you do. [But to] be greatly identified with anything is a mark of success. My biggest fear right now is that people will blame me for [ending] the show. People are going to think that it's my fault that their favorite show is going off the air. And God knows we're always looking for someone to blame.

Do you think people will hold it against you in a way that will hurt other things you want to do?
No, it's more personal than that. Less professional, more personal. I love the fans. We were a midseason replacement on The WB called ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer,'' based on a movie that was a flop. People were like, ''Don't worry, you'll get a pilot next season.'' People pitied me -- PITIED me. We couldn't pay directors to come here. Nobody wanted to be on our show. And look what happened.